New Harry Potter book leaked on the Internet

Last updated on: July 21, 2007 23:29 IST

Trust the World Wide Web to defeat all attempts at hiding information.

As the countdown to July 21 -- when the final instalment of the mega-popular Harry Potter series will make its way to eager readers -- ticks away, reports have surfaced that snapshots of the pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are available for download on the Internet, through file sharing sites like BitTorrent.

ABC News reports that 'though the quality of the photographed pages isn't high, the story is readable.'

This, despite a 10-million-pound security operation featuring an army of guards, satellite tracking systems and legal contracts having swung into action to prevent any leak of details of the seventh and final Harry Potter book.

The same report says 'less than a month ago, the blog Gawker.com leaked the book's ending.'

The ABC report also quotes a Bloomberg News service report, saying Harry Potter publishers Scholastic got in touch with image-hosting site Photobucket.com for material that might violate the book's copyright.

'Scholastic also subpoenaed Gaia Interactive,' the ABC report continues, demanding to know who posted a copy of the book on the social networking site gaiaonline.com

The book has already received a pre-order for about two million copies across the globe, which is well above the previous record of 1.5 million for the sixth instalment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

WARNING: THE HARRY POTTER DISCUSSION BOARDS BELOW ARE LIKELY TO REVEAL PLOT DETAILS AND SPOILERS FROM THE NEW BOOK. POTTER FANS WHO HAVE NOT YET READ THE BOOK ARE ADVISED NOT TO SCROLL DOWN.